patentcad

Just picked up the Outside Magazine Gear Buying Guide Issue for 2006. Road Bike of the year: Cannondale Synapse (the $3200 all carbon model).

Read it and weep weenies.

brianallan

overpriced bike rated bike of the year by a magazine who's review is probably, "It's responsive, rides great, what more could you ask for!"

bike reviews by non-bike magazines tend to be worthless. This point is illustrated by them saying a comfort carbon bike is the "bike of the year" whatever that means.

derailer

2nd Place: Giant Cypress

velocity

Shifty should be pleased about this!

johnny99

I've always though that Outside magazine's product reviews were the worst of any magazines. They are even worse than Bicycling magazine. I'm not saying that they always pick bad products, just that they are not especially competent.

patentcad

Everybody I know who's ever ridden or owned a Synapse or Six13 loves the bikes. But what do THEY know?

Besides, the longer I'm into this bike weenie crap, the more I believe what the owner of one of the LBS's said to me:

'Ah, once you get over three grand none of it really sucks.'

True enough.

onkey

i totally agree. cannondale's are rather lame. my good friend owns a bike shop and cant stand cannondale. btw, that black synapse is possibly the ugliest bike of the year

patentcad

37 reviews of the Cannondale Six13 on roadbikereview.com. 4.95 out of 5 star aggregate rating which would indicate that 36 unsolicited random Internet reviewers gave the bike 5/5 stars and one guy gave it 4/5 (or something like that, look it up):

https://roadbikereview.com/cat/latest...x.aspx#reviews

And everybody I know who has a Synapse or Six13 swears by the bikes. The LBS guys I know swear by them too. My experience (6 months, over 5K miles on the Six13) has been overwhelmingly positive. I've yet to read a press review of either bike that wasn't an unqualified rave. Just something to consider. They call that EVIDENCE (note to onkey, they call these CAPITAL LETTERS, I think there's a SHIFT key you can use on your keyboard to make those).

Or you COULD listen to a guy named 'onkey' who apparently failed 7th Grade English. This is Bike Forums. I would expect nothing more from half of you. The other half probably knew all this already.

Carry on weenies.

linus

Let the war begin!!!

patentcad

I save my 'War' ammo for Euro : ). WHERE is that Wascawwy Engwishman anyway? Probably too busy chasing down that 'top bike UK bike weenie' trophy he's after....

Poppaspoke

So now it's "Hate Cannondale" Week? Whatever happened to "Hate Trek" and "Hate Colnago"?

Starclimber

Yeah, Bike Hate Forums is a couple of clicks down the web turnpike...some guys seem to miss that exit and end up here.

thewalrus

I'm not certain that Outside magazine has any particular expertise in bikes. You could probably take any major manufacturer's $3500 full-carbon bike and name it "Bike of the Year" in a mass market magazine like Outside. People with more money than actual need for a D/A equipped bike will then go down to their local LBS and buy it.

That said I don't think there's anything *wrong* with the Synapse. I've seen many posts here at the forum from people very happy with their synapse.

Have you guys seen the new prototype Cannondale "System" bike? It's a full carbon front end with a 1.5" headset mated to a CAAD8 rear triangle. Unlike the Synapse, supposedly it will be produced entirely in the USA.

https://weightweenies.starbike.com/ph...776bd309edadc0

Luiz-Oahu

That's classic!

Shifty

Outside Magazine sure has their act together on this one

simplyred

That bike is awesome! Looks fast...
patentcad, you really love promoting that C'Dale of yours eh?
And, yes - I have a CAAD 8 - which I enjoy... but personally, there were a lot of arse-kicking bikes/products that came out the past year...

Pinarello Carbons - 30 & 46 ton per sq. in of pulling force carbon.
BMC Pro Machine w/ Nanotube Resin on T700 [military grade carbon]
Seven released the custom carbon Diamas - ride characteristics, geometry... owned.
Cervelo R3 - need I say more? ~900g frame, it rocks ON rocks

The Garmin 305 - probably the most advanced cyclometer for years to come...
The new 160g lighter PowerTap hubs..
Ultegra & 105 getting their respective 10 speed facelifts...

You get the idea... I don't know about bike product of the year... that's a bit of a stretch imho...

-simplyred

onkey

Cannondale's are such un-original bikes. There are so many of them and most of them are bikes under $1000 with a snot green paintjob or something really ugly. Does WalMart sell Cannondale's? Just my 2 cents

onkey

For example, look at that Cannondale r800. How lame is that?

thewalrus

patentcad

What is it about Cannondales that incites so much disdain?

Oh well. I hate Colnagos. Don't ask me why. On the other hand I generally don't make it a habit to trash every mention of them on these boards. That's because I HAVE a life.

patentcad

I'd agree with everything Walrus says essentially. And thanks for the spy photos of the new Cdale top of the line racing bike. I heard rumors of this from their rep a couple of months ago. Should be in the shops by August as a 2007 model. The Six13 will remain as well, unchanged from all reports. I think the new model is somewhat pricier.

Good for Cannondale. Hopefully they'll start putting pro racers on the podium in UCI events again soon.

Bockman

sounds like someone was denied a Cannondale authorized dealership....

shokhead

I loved the Synapse and didnt care for the 13 so i got one better then both,a Roubaix. Worked better for what i wanted.

shokhead

2lbs of decals ya think?

big john

Hahahahhehehhohoho, that's funny!